Today is International Women’s Day, and one of my friends-I’ve-never-met, Sarah Bessey, is hosting a synchroblog recognizing the Patron Saints and Spiritual Midwives of our lives. She says:
I use the terms Patron Saints and Spiritual Midwives to explain how I feel about the women intrinsically linked to my spiritual journey. It’s an imperfect metaphor, but in a way, Spiritual Midwives helped God give birth to some new part of me. These women were the midwives – by their lives, their faith, their obedience, their words, their prayers, their real-life example – for the work that God birthed in me, and through me (they are the women I know personally). I use the phrase Patron Saint to explain how I feel about the women, both past and present, who have shepherded me through their work and legacy, and whom I seek to emulate in some way (these are the women I don’t know personally). Women profoundly shape our spirituality. So let’s talk about them.
A Litany of Thanksgiving
I give thanks to God for women I do not know who have influenced and nurtured me as I have grown:
For St. Teresa of Avila, who showed how to blend the practical and the mystical, who struggled with doubt and belief, and who found God in unexpected places like books she read just for fun;
For Karin Bergquist, who composes and sings songs of pain, brokenness, and the triumph of love and grace;
For Anne Lamott, who uses the power of storytelling and the ordinary to convey deep spiritual truths;
For Kassia, who wrote poetry and music despite a culture that told her she should not, and defended both icons and women against their detractors;
For Madeleine L’Engle, whose writings transport me to other worlds and inspire me to create great art;
For Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who served God until her dying breath despite her doubts and depression, and who saw the importance of meeting people where they are;
For Flannery O’Connor, who wrestled with the balance between evil and good in her life as she lived with a chronic illness and in her literature as she wrote about the grace of the everyday;
For Katherine Stone, who rose above her battle with postpartum depression to form a safe community where other women – including myself – can find help and healing;
For Mary, the mother of Jesus, who had a faith that said “yes” without knowing the reasons why and who I know often intercedes for me and all mothers;
For these and all other patron saints who I have not met but have cared for and comforted me in my journey of faith nonetheless, I give thanks to God.
I give thanks to God for women I know and have known who have influenced and nurtured me as I have grown:
For my mother, who truly believes in the power of prayer to change things;
For Grandmama, whose wisdom, discernment, and love for others have always made me hope that I can be as faithful as she is when I grow up;
For my great-grandmother, Mammy, who demonstrated strength, hope, and faith in God following the heroic death of her husband in World War II, and who lived out the remainder of her days in simultaneous joy for the present and longing for the future;
For my great-grandmother, Nanny, who taught me the importance of hospitality and the joy of a welcoming spirit through her hugs and her pies;
For my sister, who challenges me to continually view learning as a spiritual discipline;
For the other women in my family – my aunts and cousins – who remind me with their unconditional love to love others unconditionally;
For Holly K-N, who chooses to view doubt and unbelief as a reason to join a community rather than run from one;
For Cayt O’Neal, whose winsome spirit and kind heart inspire me to be better;
For the women of Artisan Church, who have loved me, comforted me, laughed with me, sung with me, baked with me, cried with me, and so many other verbs with me, and who embody what church should be;
For the girls of Woodlands Academy, who taught me to value teenagers, the importance of apologies, how to seek forgiveness and how to extend grace (to be clear, I was the one doing the apologizing and needing forgiveness);
For Belise Rutagengwa, who shows in her daily life that being a survivor does not mean you just survive but it means that you choose to live to the fullest, and whose faith and ability to grant grace truly astound me;
For Andrea Scamihorn, whose sincerity and genuine love for the human race led her to powerful action and to change the world, and who still made time for little old me;
For Ann Ford, Lisa McGinness, and Beverly Lott, who (along with my mother) taught me and the other eight members of The Nine to be strong and steadfast in our faith, even when we were small children;
For Cathy May Sumrall, who bore her every burden with strength and, in the process, showed me what a strong woman can accomplish when she listens to God first and foremost;
For my many Filipina Titas and pinsans, who instilled in me from birth a Filipino-American mindset and a respect and love for the traditions and faith of other cultures;
For Jenny Nolan Burgess, who saw the deepest corners of my heart when I was young, somehow knew what the future would hold for me, and loved me accordingly and profoundly, and whose table I will be seated at in Heaven;
For Faye, Rosamond, Jolene, Wilhemina, and all other women who cared for me as a baby at church, who taught me that church was a safe place to be, and whose love and tenderness when I was little won out over others’ hypocrisy and my hurt when I was older;
For Margaret Decker, who more than anyone I know has the ability to speak the truth in love, and whose enthusiasm for life is infectious and lovely;
For Lisa Gaub and Summer King, who show me every day that having faith doesn’t mean giving up all the things I love, and who remind me that Jesus loves people who listen to punk rock music and wear Chuck Taylors;
For Liz, Carolyn, Michelle, and Mel, who are intentional about growing friendships that are ever deepening;
For Kristen Naranjo, whose very existence reminds me that though life is devastatingly hard, life is also devastatingly beautiful;
For Noella, who taught me how much love I am capable of having for another person and who teaches me every day what the faith and joy of a child look like;
For Dr. Anna Stepanek, whose passion for creative writing and dedication to a motley crew of a dozen college kids led me for the first time to explore my faith and how it came to be what it was, and who prayed and fasted for me – a person she barely knew – because she thought I was worth it, and whose influence will never leave me though we have lost touch;
For the women who have allowed me to attend their births, who have honored me by letting me witness the sacred time and time again;
For these and all other spiritual midwives who have cared for and comforted me in my journey of faith, I give thanks to God.
May I be to other women as these women have been to me. Grant me the desire to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God among his good creation. Amen.